Gabriele Picco's gravestone artwork censored in Bolzano after complaints

On April 14, 2023, Italian artist Gabriele Picco (born 1974 in Brescia) had his installation "In loving memory of a vanished cloud" removed from a public square in Bolzano after complaints from passersby and a local restaurant owner who deemed it offensive to religion. The work, a black granite gravestone with a photo of a cloud, was part of the group show "Bolzano in Fiore Arte" curated by Marco Nones and promoted in collaboration with the municipality. Initially placed in the piazzetta of Palais Campofranco with permission from the private owner, it was first moved to a flowerbed around a ginkgo biloba tree donated by Princess Sissi in 1899, then removed entirely and stored without the artist's knowledge. Picco expressed shock at the censorship, noting the work was meant to celebrate the ephemeral and was not intended as provocation. The municipality refused requests to relocate the piece elsewhere in the city. The exhibition continues without Picco's work.